Three Women from Wei County, Hebei Province Beaten and Tortured by the Police

2009-08-18

On July 15th, 2009, a horrible scene was staged in the Xiheying Town Police Station of Wei County, Hebei Province. The victims were three women who practise Falun Gong. One of them was with her 2-year-old daughter. Four to five policemen, uttering abusive words, cruelly beat them, slapped them in the face, shocked them with electric batons and choked them with cigarette smoke. When a group of police became too tired to continue the beating, another group of police would step in to continue the abuse.

The three women were arrested by the police while they were distributing leaflets exposing the persecution and telling people the facts about Falun Gong in a market in the Xiheying Town at about 10 a.m. on July 15th, 2009. Officials from the local 610 Office1 in charge of persecuting Falun Gong monitored the people in the market and shadowed the three women. Ms. Geng Li and Ms. Liu Shuli were arrested at first and Ms. Sun Jian Qin was arrested not long after.

Ms. Geng Li Cruelly Tortured

When Ms. Geng and Ms. Liu were arrested and taken to the Xiheying Town Police Station, the chief of the police station, Liu Zhong, slapped them in the face. Then he brought them to a room, closed the window curtain and 4 to 5 policemen abused and beat them. After slapping them in the face, the police handcuffed them and detained them separately. Ms. Geng contended that she was innocent as she had done nothing wrong and resisted while she was being handcuffed. In retaliation, the police handcuffed her in a more painful position called "carrying a sword on the back," in which one of her hands was pulled over her shoulder and cuffed to the other hand which was pulled up from behind her back.

At the time the room was crowded by police, uttering abusive words and verbally attacking the founder of Falun Gong. They drew two portraits on two pieces of paper, and wrote on them the name of the Falun Gong founder and abusive words against him. They tried to force her to curse him and and spit on the paper. Ms. Geng refused. Then the police spat on one of the pieces of paper and shoved it into her mouth. At the same time they threw the other piece of paper onto the ground and demanded that she step on it. When she refused, they pressed her against a bed and dragged her feet across the piece of paper.

One policeman lit a cigarette and blew a mouthful of smoke into her face. The policemen took turns beating and abusing her. They made a paper stick with a newspaper and slapped her face and arms with it. After the paper stick broke, they simply made a new one and continued the beating. Ms. Geng's face and mouth became swollen. The police shocked her arms and back with electric batons and forced her to sit on her knees. When she refused they brutally kicked her legs until she became too weak to stand and fell to the ground on her knees. One policeman stepped on her lower legs to prevent her from moving while the other violently whipped her knees with a rubber baton. Then they dragged her up and whipped her buttocks with a rubber baton covered with rubber spikes.

The police did not stop beating her until they left for lunch, leaving a policeman to watch her with a rubber baton in hand. Ms. Geng tried to escape the moment the policeman watching her left, but she was caught and taken back. She was then shackled to a special chair to confine detainees. Many officers slapped her face and mouth. Then a young policeman whipped her legs, feet, shoulders and arms with the rubber baton for long period of time until he was tired. As a result, her shoulders, arms, legs and feet were severely bruised.

Ms. Liu Shuli and Ms. Sun Jianqin Brutally Beaten

Ms. Sun Jianqin was also beaten by the police after she was arrested. All of this happened in front of her 2-year-old daughter. The little girl was frightened so badly she started crying loudly, but the police just continued to beat her mother. One of Ms. Sun's hands was cuffed to a radiator while the other hand was left free to carry her daughter. At the same time, the police slapped and punched her face, grabbed her hair, shocked her with electric batons and kicked her legs. Her mouth was injured and bled.

The next day she was sent to a detention centre in Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province. She was not released until her family implored the police and paid them 700 yuan2 on the third day. After she returned home, police from the Nanyangzhuang Town Police Station threatened her husband, saying that his family would be in trouble if he does not follow their orders and keep his wife from practising Falun Gong.

In the Xiheying Town Police Station Ms. Liu Shuli was taken to a room in the north yard. She was beaten violently and her face was injured and bled. Police forced her to sit on her knees, beat her knees with a iron baton and shocked her with electric batons while clutching her hair. They drew a man's portrait and called it the founder of Falun Gong and forced her to curse it and step on it. After they discovered her name through interrogation they took a photograph of her and recorded her fingerprints by force. In the morning of the next day she was sent to a hospital for physical examination and in the afternoon she was sent to Zhangjiakou City and was detained for 5 days in a detention centre. After that she was taken to the Nanyangzhaung Town Police Station, where police officers slandered Falun Gong to her face and intimidated her family members. She was not released until her family paid the police 1,000 yuan.

We hope witnesses of these abuses will provide us with detailed information about the perpetrators and their families, as their crimes against Falun Gong practitioners should be exposed to their families and local people.

List of those involved in the mistreatment:Liu Zhong, chief of the Xiheying Town Police Station, Wei County, Hebei province;Ni Jiangong, Su Sheng, Si Zhangquan and Ren Lin, 610 officers in charge of persecuting Falun Gong

Note

1. "The 610 office" is an agency specifically created to persecute Falun Gong, with absolute power over each level of administration in the Party and all other political and judiciary systems.

2. "Yuan" is the Chinese currency; 500 yuan is equal to the average monthly income of an urban worker in China.